Commerzbank in Germany is participating in a project that automates payments for recycling office documents using DLT. He has been working with data crushing company Rhenus Data Office on a project that combines Internet of Things (IoT) sensors with blockchain.

Sensors attached to the recycling bins alert Rhenus to collect the bins, preventing wasted trips to pick up half-full bins. Smart contracts verify that the contents of the container have been recycled, and if all the requirements are met, the payment is made. With a shared ledger, all parties involved can see the level of recycling and transactions.

“In addition to fully automated collection thanks to IoT sensor technology, the Rhenus Group now covers the direct debit collection command completely digitally with the help of Commerzbank’s payment solution.” said Dr. Stephan Peters, Rhenus Group Board Member. “We hope that the slow examination of invoices and the control of incoming and outgoing payments will be a thing of the past.”

Both Rhenus and Commerzbank participate in a lab run by Fraunhofer IML that is developing DLT solutions for the logistics sector, including this smart waste management project.

“We intend to digitize and automate our customers’ supply chains with our DLT-based solutions to make them more efficient, resilient and productive. The Smart Waste Management use case with Rhenus is an excellent example of how attractive this technological approach is,” said Brigitte Réthier of Commerzbank.

Commerzbank has been working with blockchain for several years in payments, trade finance, and digital assets. Last year he ran a project with BASF and Evonik to automate supply chain payment between the two companies using programmable money that was legally electronic money.

In trade finance, the bank is a member of the Marco Polo and Contour blockchain trade finance projects. It was one of the first banks to implement Marco Polo. It also participates in Fnality, the blockchain interbank payments network.